It’s September, which means we’re more than inside the range of projection time in the NHL. Projections that might mean little when the puck drops roughly a month-and-a-half from now, but still, it’s always a blast to predict who ends up playing alongside who as we inch toward a new season.
After projecting the forward line yesterday, it’s time to figure out who could, or should, be on the defensive rotation’s first pairing. Here, you’re getting a pair of veterans, and even if you don’t care for one of the names listed, after checking some numbers and going with who paired with who when the Blues were still somewhat in contention last season, two names jumped out.
Colton Parayko
Heading into his age-31 season, Colton Parayko continues to put up between 23 and 24 minutes per game, and you can call him the Blues best defenseman. St. Louis struggled with opponents in the defensive zone last season, but Parayko did all he could to keep opposing units at bay, registering 218 blocks across all 82 games.
He also pitched in with 113 hits and 73 takeaways, so you can say the guy was disruptive all season, even if the other four skaters he was on the ice with at seemingly any given time weren’t.
Here are a couple of other fun facts: At even strength, Parayko was on the ice for 76 goals allowed, both of which were lower numbers than the previous two seasons that saw 87 and 83 on-ice goals allowed, respectively. As for on-ice save percentage in that same situation, it sat at 91.3, Parayko’s best since 2019-20.
Nick Leddy
Nick Leddy probably isn’t the popular choice, as the Blues rolling with a younger player could be the way to go here. But let’s not call 2024-25 a throwaway campaign just yet since anything can happen early, and we saw Parayko and Leddy pair up when the Blues were still “kind of” in the playoff hunt toward the end of last season.
That tells me the two lining up alongside one another on the first pairing gives them the best chance to win, or at least in foresight of 2024-25. Like Parayko, Leddy got in front of pucks, 127 of them to be exact, and his 22:22 average total ice time was the highest it had been since 2017-18.
No, Leddy isn’t a great player, and if the Blues struggle, he’s probably not on the first pairing for long. But if we’re talking about giving St. Louis its best chance to win early, Leddy pairing with Parayko would be a good idea.